Depressing post
Yesterday I saw The Screams of Kitty Genovese, one of the entrants in the NYMF. It's a chamber opera about the case. Last night Michael asked me what I thought of it--as a piece of art, I thought it was quite good. Musically, it's excellent. It's also very well-directed and acted. I did have some problems with its history though. For one thing, the Kitty Genovese in the show is VERY different from the real Kitty. The show Kitty is putting on makeup to go out with the girls the night she's killed--she's all dreamy and "maybe I'll find romance!" She's a standard generic inegenue, which I found annoying at best, and offensive at worst. The real Kitty was a lesbian--she had a live-in girlfriend. Why did the writers change that? So unnecessary. And she wasn't going out on the town--she was coming home from work. The Kitty in the show just isn't as interesting--she actually sings lyrics about how this kind of night makes you feel "glad to be alive" and "I'm on the threshold of life" and other such heavy-handedly foreshadowing lyrics. We all know how it ends, guys; you don't need to highlight the irony that much. I understand the need to streamline the story but I really feel they should've stuck more to the actual facts. If they felt the need to change it that much, perhaps they should've changed her name as well, and just said "inspired by the Genovese case."
Also, on a political (I guess?) tack, I HATED that the murderer was given so much to sing. He should NOT get any kind of voice--he's had his say. That's a character that should be defined by his actions alone--giving him anything more to say really bothers me. And it was also what he said (sang)--he had this long aria about how much he hated women and how they were "flies on shit" and whores and just on and on and on. I almost got up and left--I really do not want to hear a long diatribe about how much yet ANOTHER predator hates women, and what he wants to do to women and how much we suck. The show romanticized him too much. In one article, the composer said something about how he was looking for "a love song for a guy with a butcher knife." No. It wasn't love, it wasn't some mystical thing, it wasn't anything romantic or mysterious. He was an animal who woke up and wanted to kill, and he did so. As horrible as it was, there is no deeper meaning to it, and it's giving that man way too much importance to assign such thing to his act. In fact I don't think he should even be identified by name in the program--just list him as "The Murderer."
(And when I say "he's had his say" this is the sort of thing to which I refer:
During the period 1984 through 1995, [The Murderer] appeared before the state parole board six times. His appearances were marked by his bizarre, self-serving comments to the panel, and he frequently assumed the role of society’s victim. “For a victim outside, it’s a one-time or one hour or one minute affair, but for the person who’s caught, it’s forever,” he said in 1984. “People do kill people when they mug them sometimes,” he added. At one parole hearing, [The Murderer] claimed he had written a letter to the Genovese family “to apologize for the inconvenience I caused.” The Genovese family strongly denied receiving any such communication nor did they wish for one.
I mean--can you believe that? The inconvenience? "For the person who's caught, it's forever"? Oh you poor, poor thing, you. My heart just breaks for your inconvenience.)
Man. The world just depresses me sometimes.
Also, on a political (I guess?) tack, I HATED that the murderer was given so much to sing. He should NOT get any kind of voice--he's had his say. That's a character that should be defined by his actions alone--giving him anything more to say really bothers me. And it was also what he said (sang)--he had this long aria about how much he hated women and how they were "flies on shit" and whores and just on and on and on. I almost got up and left--I really do not want to hear a long diatribe about how much yet ANOTHER predator hates women, and what he wants to do to women and how much we suck. The show romanticized him too much. In one article, the composer said something about how he was looking for "a love song for a guy with a butcher knife." No. It wasn't love, it wasn't some mystical thing, it wasn't anything romantic or mysterious. He was an animal who woke up and wanted to kill, and he did so. As horrible as it was, there is no deeper meaning to it, and it's giving that man way too much importance to assign such thing to his act. In fact I don't think he should even be identified by name in the program--just list him as "The Murderer."
(And when I say "he's had his say" this is the sort of thing to which I refer:
During the period 1984 through 1995, [The Murderer] appeared before the state parole board six times. His appearances were marked by his bizarre, self-serving comments to the panel, and he frequently assumed the role of society’s victim. “For a victim outside, it’s a one-time or one hour or one minute affair, but for the person who’s caught, it’s forever,” he said in 1984. “People do kill people when they mug them sometimes,” he added. At one parole hearing, [The Murderer] claimed he had written a letter to the Genovese family “to apologize for the inconvenience I caused.” The Genovese family strongly denied receiving any such communication nor did they wish for one.
I mean--can you believe that? The inconvenience? "For the person who's caught, it's forever"? Oh you poor, poor thing, you. My heart just breaks for your inconvenience.)
Man. The world just depresses me sometimes.